Table of contents for Issue 16 in Planet Mindful

It feels like we have waited forever for spring to arrive this year. But with each new bud and sound of birdsong comes renewed hope for the future – sunny days spent with friends and family, hugging loved ones tight, celebrating special occasions and visiting the places we love. The pandemic has certainly taken its toll on our mental health, and as we slowly journey down the road to normality, let’s make this a time for healing. Before we rush back into our old ways, let us stop and take stock of what we want to embrace and what we want to let go of. Let’s use the lessons we have learnt about ourselves and what really matters to us to live happier, more fulfilled lives. Turn to our self…

Feel good flowers Flower essences are a form of herbal medicine that have really grown in popularity during the stresses and strains of the last year. First developed in the 1930s, they can help with many different issues – from anxiety to self esteem, from hopelessness to sleeplessness and everything in between. They are usually taken as drops under the tongue (think Rescue Remedy). Take a look at the range at Saskia’s Flower Essences, saskiasfloweressences.com.…

How are your energy levels right now? Do you feel like you are giving from an empty cup or are you embracing each day as it comes and bursting with energy? Some activities deplete your energy and others replenish it. It’s all about knowing what works for you. Self care is a crucial activity to include in your life so that you are not running on empty – so that you have something left to give to yourself and then to others. Self care is any activity that we do with intention in order to take care of our mental, physical and emotional health. It doesn’t have to mean a spa day or meditation for an hour each day. It’s not about how much money you spend or how much…

• Review your life Start by identifying what brings you joy, what you’re most proud of, what you wish you had more of, times you’ve felt stressed and things you can’t live without.• Decide what’s important Score each area of your life: Home surroundings, fun and recreation, family and friends, love and romance, health and wellbeing, career, money and personal growth. Where are the opportunities for change?• Set boundaries Decide what you want to say no to and what you want to say yes to.• Explore your values When you are choosing to change aspects of your life like your career or your personal life, make sure it aligns with your core values.• Think smartly Now’s the time to set some goals. It’s important to be clear about what the…

Ready, steady, grow! We all know that it’s important to eat your five a day, but what if you could grow your five a day? It’s inexpensive, great for wellbeing, better for the environment, and easier than you think! With this in mind, gardening expert Richard Jackson has created the Couch to Five a Day Challenge to encourage more people to grow their own. The first kit will be available in March with a second kit released in May, each costing £19.99. They contain everything you need to start growing the basics – potatoes, strawberries, spinach tomatoes and much more. Find out more at richardjacksonsgarden.co.uk…

“We’d both be fishing things out of the landfill bin to recycle!” When did you both, as individuals, begin your journey towards living a more sustainable life? Rebecca: I was an ‘outdoors person’ as a child, always playing in the garden, making mud pies and ladybird houses and my mum was brilliant at creating craft projects out of old things. I think it’s this that led me towards my degree in Environmental Science. I’m definitely still on the journey though – I feel like I am discovering new ways to be more sustainable all the time. Nicolle: My journey started with veganism in my late teens. I started learning more about the animal industry and realised that not only was there a huge amount of animal cruelty, but that the…

As the Chinese proverb goes, ‘the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now’. Trees provide homes and food for three-quarters of the world’s wildlife and plants. They ease flooding. They reduce stress. They give us timber. And they soak up carbon dioxide, a major cause of rising global temperatures. It’s obvious that we need more of them. Fast. Seeds are being sown across the country. A snapshot of the current scene takes in Plant Britain, a Countryfile project to plant 750,000 trees by the end of 2022, the Big Climate Fightback, a Woodland Trust scheme aiming for 50 million trees by 2025, and plans by the National Trust for 20 million trees by 2030. These should help meet the government target to…

We don't often think of chocolate as something that is good for us. It's an indulgence, a 'naughty treat', and often laden with refined sugars and fats. But cacao – the raw ingredient found in dark and high quality chocolate or sold as powder, nibs or 'butter', actually has a number of benefits for our health. Cocoa and cacao are often confused, but they start life in the same way: as harvested beans from the cacao tree’s seed pods. The differences occur during harvesting when cacao powder is cold pressed into raw cacao powder (therefore retaining more of its beneficial properties), while cocoa powder comes from roasting raw cacao at high temperatures, giving a much sweeter effect. Cocoa powder, as found in many supermarkets, usually contains high levels of added…

Tell us about the experiences that have shaped you… My life was difficult from the get-go. My dad died six months after I was born, leaving my mother with me and my two sisters. We moved around a lot, living in hotels, housing shelters and with family. When we were finally given a council home, it was situated in a highly racist neighbourhood. People would bang our doors down in the middle of the night telling us to leave the country. Poverty was a big theme too – struggling to make ends meet and not knowing if we’d eat that day. In my 20s, I reached my ultimate low and tried to take my life. Having survived, I decided I could never get to that low point again. I had…

Kiran Aldridge British-Asian Kiran has written for The Guardian, Daily Telegraph and The Independent. She explores the issue of empathy on p34 this issue. Vex King Best-selling author Vex King talks about overcoming a traumatic childhood and how he’s turned his life around on p98. Rachel England Rachel is a sustainability writer and author of new book, Everyday Activism. She outlines how we can reduce the impact of our periods on the planet on p50. Emily Doe Emily runs pilates and movement workshops and is founder of Movement Foundation. Read her advice on staying active whilst working from home on p84. Laura Silverman A freelance writer with a passion for nature, Laura shares her insights on seasonal eating on p60, and planting trees on p64. Kimberley Johnson Has the pandemic…

1 Connect with yourself “If you’re not able to go outside to meet people, why not go inside and get better acquainted with yourself, instead? There has never been a better time to turn inwards and get to know ourselves on a deeper level. What do we need to heal and let go of? What are our hopes and dreams for the future? How can we show up better for ourselves and our loved ones? What do we really want from a relationship? Who do we really want to be in a relationship with? Now is the perfect time to be honest with yourself, about who you are and what you want. In the words of Lama Willa Miller: “In a pandemic, self-isolation is called quarantine. In Buddhism, it is…

• Fun and recreation What do you do for fun? Are you doing enough of the things that you love? • Family and friends Do you have a circle of friends that energise you? How supportive are they? • Love and romance How content are you with your significant other? Are you content sexually and emotionally? • Career and work How fulfilling is your work/career right now? Would you say you’re on a positive career path? • Money Do you feel financially free/financially secure? Are you happy with your current level of income? • Personal growth Do you feel that you are evolving/learning? • Home surroundings Are you happy with the physical space at home? Are there things you’d like to change about your home environment? • Health and wellbeing…

Without a doubt, there have been many challenges globally over the last twelve months, many of which have been created as a result of the ongoing pandemic. One of the biggest issues faced by countries and communities has been the question of how to successfully tackle the virus while also minimising the negative impact on the environment. Cleaner air In the opening months of the pandemic, the news for the environment was overwhelmingly positive. Statisticians estimated that road traffic had reduced by over 70 per cent, while the number of internal and international flights fell by half compared to their usual levels. Globally, we saw news of reduced emissions as factories were forced to halt production as a result of national lockdowns and China alone reported an 18 per cent…

• Take small steps. Make each change realistic and achievable otherwise it won’t be something that lasts. • Around the home, be conscious of turning lights off and reducing water use when washing or showering. Switch to renewable energy if you can afford to do so. • In the kitchen, flip your meal planning to create meals out of foods that tend to have better (or no) packaging. • Spend a few minutes on Google and write a list of when certain foods are in season and try to incorporate those into meals – they’re more likely to be locally, and more naturally, produced if they’re in season. • Try switching disposable cloths or sponges for organic cotton versions. Similarly, switch plastic washing up brushes for wooden ones with replaceable…

Save our souls and save bread rolls – that’s become my mantra after I started regularly visiting the food rescue in lockdown 3.0. Standing in a beer garden that’s not serving alcohol in the depths of the British winter doesn’t seem like something that would be top of your lockdown to-do list. And yet every week, come driving rain, a howling gale or even a smattering of snow, you can find me outside the Stevenage pub that hosts the food-saving mission. In happier, pre-Covid times, the inside of the aptly named Our Mutual Friend would be bustling every Saturday with visitors filling their bags with bread, fruit, veg, store cupboard essentials and even the odd bunch of flowers. It was like shopping at a thriving market, with cheerful stall holders…

Create your own patterns and design susing natural dye Make your own stationery There’s something so much more special about sending a handmade card – or even just taking the time to hand-write a letter. The time and love that goes into making things is felt by the receiver, giving this simple gesture so much more meaning. You will need • 1 cup of blueberries• 3 cups of water• Pieces of card• Saucepan 1 Pour 3 cups of water into a small saucepan with the blueberries and heat over a high flame for 15 minutes. 2 Stir and smash the blueberries to extract a strong colour. 3 Dip the pieces of card into the dyed water. 4 Carefully allow the card to dry for an hour or two. Tip: To…

“Spring is the time of plans and projects.”LEO TOLSTOY The big awakening It's the season of renewal – a time when we emerge from the dark winter months and take stock of what is making us happy – and what is not. “Emotional clutter can accrue just like bric-a-brac, clothes, shoes, furniture, and cooking utensils – all that stuff that clutters your physical space. Similarly, emotional clutter most often comes from stress that clogs our psyche," says Psychology Today. Think about what might be causing you stress or holding you back – is it your inability to say no? Your messy finances? Or is it your relationships? Use the spring months to do some work on yourself and be honest with yourself about what you need to change. IN A…

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How is your year working out for you so far? Putting the complications of a pandemic aside for a moment, where are you underneath all the noise? Have you checked in with yourself recently to ask what you really want out of your one wild and precious life? Although only one in ten of us actually achieve the New Year’s resolutions we set every January, as humans it’s a natural ambition to strive for the best life we can imagine for ourselves. A big reason why we sometimes struggle with goal-achieving is because we don’t fully understand why we want that change. We may have an inkling or even a good idea about what it is we want, but often there can be emotive reasons and other psychological notions that…

Mindfulness plays a vital role in allowing us to be aware of, manage, and control our thoughts and emotions. Thoughts really can run away from us and spiral very quickly, causing us to lose control of all actions and behaviours that follow. Often, we are living in the past (regret mode) or future (worry mode) and as a result are missing out on the gift which is the present. We are also trying to multi-task, so our attention is spread over different things and therefore never giving 100 per cent to one thing. We use the words ‘time flies’, or ‘look how big they are getting’ or ‘how old they are’ when referring to the kids, but if we practise mindfulness we can always be assured that we enjoy every…

Periods are a tedious fact of life for many of us, so at this point in our menstrual careers we know what works best for our bodies when it comes to menstrual products – which brands, which absorbencies and which styles. As such, the same products are chucked in the trolley month after month with as much enthusiasm as washing-up liquid or milk. As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – so why bother switching things up now? The planet, however, would disagree. Menstrual hygiene products are designed to be small and discreet, but the impact they have on the environment is huge. For a start, tampons and towels are full of plastic. Some packs of towels are up to 90 per cent plastic –…

Going offline Having spent so much time in lockdown, connecting via video and text messages, spring is the ideal time to have a break from the screens and reconnect with the real world. ‘Birdsong’ is a beautifully illustrated step-by-step guide to going offline and includes activities, quotes, and prompts for reconnection and a gorgeous selection of cards, illustrations and writing papers to send to loved ones. wildflowerillustrationco.com…

As the wet weather dries up and the sunlight starts to pour in through the windows, it’s the perfect time to give your home a deep clean and a new season refresh. But how can we do this in a way that’s good for us and the planet? How about trying a little old-fashioned cleaning? It appeals to me, not because I’m a sucker for punishment and I want to be scrubbing floors like a 1950s housewife, but because there’s something satisfying about cleaning your windows with vinegar and newspaper and your kitchen sink with leftover lemon. It’s satisfying knowing that your house is clean – naturally clean – and that your family and pets are also healthy, not fumigated from the toxic chemical mix, and you are also not…

1 MIDDLETON LODGE ESTATE NORTH YORKSHIRE Set in 200-acres of beautiful North Yorkshire countryside, this Georgian country estate is a passion project for owners James and Rebecca Allison. Sustainability is hugely important to the couple and they are well on their way to their goal of 100 per cent self-sufficiency. Enjoy a meal packed with fresh vegetables picked straight from the kitchen garden, relax with a holistic treatment on the on-site mini-spa or explore the grounds on a rented bicycle. Absolute bliss! Prices start at £169 a night middletonlodge.co.uk 2 THE PIG HAMPSHIRE Home-grown and local produce, sympathetic to the seasons, is what lies at the heart of The Pig. What they can’t grow or rear themselves, they’ll source as locally as possible and they are proud of their 25-mile…